Infinitely Losing My Edge
Yeah, I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge.
The kids are coming up from behind.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge to the kids from Algeria and from Bologna.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976.
I was there at the first Soft Boys show in Cambridge.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge to the kids whose footsteps I hear when they get on the decks.
I'm losing my edge to the internet seekers who can tell me every member of every good group from 1964 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Philadelphia and Sao Paulo.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bologna kids in little jackets and borrowed nostalgia for the unremembered nineties.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge.
I can hear the footsteps every night on the decks.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975 at the first Ubu practice in a loft in Cleveland.
I was working on the synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart started up his first band.
I told him, "Don't do it that way. You'll never make a dime."
I was there.
I was the first guy playing Q and Not U to the disco kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
Everybody thought I was crazy.
We all know.
I was there.
I was there.
I've never been wrong.
But I'm losing my edge to better-looking people with better ideas and more talent.
And they're actually really, really nice.
I'm losing my edge.
I heard you have a compilation of every good song ever done by anybody.
Every great song by Derrick May. All the underground hits.
All Bobby Hutcherson tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Rahsaan Roland Kirk record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying an oboe and a marimba and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Harpers Bizarre record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a theremin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought a synthesizer.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Tim Buckley,
Motorama,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Black Bananas,
Sexual Harrassment,
Clear Light,
Malaria!,
World's Most,
LL Cool J,
Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan,
Sandy B,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Flash Fearless,
Albert Ayler,
T. Rex,
Juan Atkins,
Aswad,
the Bar-Kays,
the Sonics,
Bronski Beat,
Popol Vuh,
The Invisible,
The Chocolate Watch Band,
Frankie Knuckles,
Kayak,
The Fire Engines,
Soul II Soul,
Bob Dylan,
Shuggie Otis,
The Mojo Men,
Prince Buster,
Underground Resistance,
The Evens,
Girls At Our Best!,
Funky Four + One,
Ponytail,
EPMD,
Magazine,
Eli Mardock,
Grauzone,
DJ Style,
Gang Gang Dance,
Strawberry Alarm Clock,
Television,
Moebius,
Skriet,
Sly & The Family Stone,
T.S.O.L.,
The Angels of Light,
The Wake,
Andrew Hill,
Altered Images,
One Last Wish,
Thee Headcoats,
Barrington Levy,
Echospace,
Josef K,
James White and The Blacks,
Quadrant,
Warsaw,
The Red Krayola,
Slick Rick,
Minutemen, Minutemen, Minutemen, Minutemen.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.